Chapter Two 25

This network of roads and bridges opened up the area to whomever wished to come. No longer could Tignish be independent of the world. However this was not entirely a bad thing. Along with rent collectors and government officials came storekeepers, skilled tradesmen, and schoolteachers. Residents could go down the roads to other settlements and on into the wider world as well, though it was not until late in the century that this became common.

As the century progressed, more forms of communication reached Tignish. It is not precisely known when regular mail service was established. At the beginning of this period, the mails came irregularly, most likely by a combination of methods of transport. Gradually their frequency and regularity increased, until they arrived twice a week and went out the following day. As late as 1868, the postman still arrived on horseback. The service was taken over by the train in 1875, and, by the end of the century, mail came daily.

But even before the railway was the telegraph. It was introduced in the 18505, and was mainly used by the businesspeople who were now settling in the village. Prior to the railway, whose effect can easily be imagined, going to or from Charlottetown was an overnight trip on horseback or by sleigh; it could now be done in a matter of hours without having to watch out for bears. The Myrick Company, of which more will be said later, had a private telephone system from the 18705 or early 805 on; it allowed communication between the family’s places of business, their homes, and the home of their resident manager. For a long time, this was the only telephone system in Tignish.

Trouble with the rent collectors had existed since sometime in the 18205, but now, with more and better roads, it became more frequent. Few of the settlers were